Rally Mexico 2012

 Rally Mexico 2012

Racing data
3rd of 13 races of the 2012 World Rally Championship
Surname:	Rally Mexico
Date:	8-11 March 2012
Begin:	Leon
Exams:	22 (24) tests over 382.60 (408.50) km
Distance:	1128.79 km
Covering:	gravel
Podium
First:	Sébastien Loeb Citroën Total World Rally Team
Second:	Mikko Hirvonen Citroën Total World Rally Team
Third:	Petter Solberg Ford World Rally Team

Petter Solberg / Chris Patterson with the Ford Fiesta RS WRC

The 9th Rally Mexico was held from March 8th to 11th, 2012. A total of 22 special stages (two canceled) were driven on gravel.

Reports

Day 1 (Thursday, March 8th)

Petter Solberg (Ford) won the qualification ahead of Mikko Hirvonen (Citroën) and Sébastien Loeb (Citroën). The winner of the qualification can choose the starting position for the first special stage, Solberg chose number 14.

Day 2 (Friday, March 9th)

Solberg (Ford) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Ford) took the lead at the start of the rally. Both had punctures and lost time. At Latvala the suspension was also damaged. After eight special stages, Loeb was 4.5 seconds ahead of Hirvonen (both Citroën) and Mads Østberg (Ford). Latvala made up some time, after the second day of the rally he was 1.19.9 minutes short of the lead, which meant fourth place.

3rd day (Saturday, March 10th)

Loeb extended his lead further and was in the lead with almost half a minute ahead of Hirvonen. Again, Latvala was unlucky and had another puncture. Jari-Matti Latvala worked his way up to third place, however, he was more than two minutes behind Sébastien Loeb in the evening.

4th day (Sunday, March 11th)

On the fourth day, Loeb's sixth victory in the Rally Mexico was no longer to be taken. Hirvonen stayed in second and Petter Solberg came third. Latvala overturned on the "Guanajuatito" special stage (54.3 kilometers) and Evgeny Novikov (Ford) did the same. Solberg secured the three additional World Championship points thanks to the victory in the power stage . After three runs, Loeb leads the world championship with 66 points ahead of Hirvonen (50), Solberg (47), Østberg (28) and Latvala (26).

Classifications

Bottom line

rank	driver	Co-driver	automobile	time	Residue	Points + power stage
Overall ranking
01	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Elena	Citroën DS3 WRC	4: 15: 32.7		25 + 2
02	Mikko Hirvonen	Jarmo Lehtinen	Citroën DS3 WRC	4: 16: 15.1	042.4	18th
03	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 17: 44.1	2: 11.4	15 + 3
04th	Mads Østberg	Jonas Andersson	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 20: 24.2	4: 51.5	12 + 1
05	Ott Tanak	Kuldar Sikk	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 20: 35.3	5: 02.6	10
06th	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Giovanni Bernacchini	Citroën DS3 WRC	4: 22: 14.1	6: 41.4	08th
07th	Armindo Araújo	Miguel Ramalho	Mini John Cooper Works WRC	4: 28: 19.6	12: 46.9	06th
08th	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Škoda Fabia S2000	4:30: 30.5	14: 57.8	04th
09	Ken Block	Alex Gelsomino	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 37: 59.5	22: 26.8	02
10	Ricardo Triviño	Álex Haro	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4: 39: 03.4	23: 30.7	01
Class 3 / PWRC
1 (11)	Benito Guerra	Borja Rozada	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	4: 39: 26.1		25th
2 (12)	Nicolás Fuchs	Fernando Mussano	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	4: 43: 36.0	004: 09.9	18th
3 (14)	Michał Kościuszko	Maciek Szczepaniak	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5:00: 13.5	020: 47.4	15th
4 (15)	Gianluca Linari	Nicola Arena	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	5: 14: 08.1	034: 42.0	12
5 (16)	Tibor Érdi Jr.	Attila Taborszki	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5: 30: 29.5	051: 03.4	*
6 (17)	Rodrigo Salgado	Diódoro Salgado	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	5: 45: 54.9	1: 06: 28.8	10
7 (18)	Ramona Karlsson	Miriam Walfridsson	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	5: 59: 29.2	1: 20: 03.1	08th

• unregistered pilot of the PWRC

Special stages

Day	WP number	begin	WP name	length	WP winner	time	Ø km / h	leader
Day 1/2 (March 8/9)	WP1	8:09 pm	DC Shoes Guanajuato Street Stage	01.05 km	Petter Solberg	00: 53.7	070.39 km / h	Petter Solberg
	WP2	08:08	El Cubilete 1	22.12 km	Mikko Hirvonen	13: 23.6	099.09 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP3	09:06	Las Minas 1	15.21 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	11: 22.9	080.18 km / h	Jari-Matti Latvala
	WP4	09:47	Los Mexicanos 1	09.76 km	Sébastien Loeb	07: 53.3	074.24 km / h
	WP5	10:08	Ortega 1	23.69 km	Sébastien Loeb	14: 08.7	100.49 km / h	Mikko Hirvonen
	WP6	13:36	El Cubilete 2	22.12 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	13: 11.8	101.86 km / h	Sébastien Loeb
	WP7	14:34	Las Minas 2	15.21 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	11: 03.1	082.58 km / h
	WP8	15:15	Los Mexicanos 2	09.76 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	07: 43.6	075.79 km / h
	WP9	15:36	Ortega 2	23.69 km	called off
	WP10	17:24	Monster León Street Stage	01.23 km	Sébastien Loeb	01: 16.4	057.96 km / h
	WP11	20:13	Super special 1	02.21 km	Nasser Al-Attiyah	01: 39.5	079.96 km / h
	WP12	20:18	Super special 2	02.21 km	Chris Atkinson	01: 38.3	080.94 km / h
Day 2 (March 10th)	WP13	06:54	Ibarrilla 1	29.90 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	18: 01.4	099.54 km / h
	WP14	08:12	Otates 1	41.88 km	Sébastien Loeb	30: 19.9	082.84 km / h
	WP15	11:06	Ibarrilla 2	29.90 km	Sébastien Loeb	17: 55.3	100.10 km / h
	WP16	12:24	Otates 2	41.88 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	29: 54.7	084.01 km / h
	WP17	3:30 p.m.	Comanjilla 1	17.91 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	10: 21.1	103.81 km / h
	WP18	16:45	Super special 3	4.42 km	Petter Solberg Sébastien Loeb	03: 14.3	081.89 km / h
	WP19	16:50	Super special 4	02.21 km	called off
	WP20	17:23	Comanjilla 2	17.91 km	Jari-Matti Latvala	10: 13.7	105.06 km / h
Day 3 (March 11th)	WP21	09:30	Super special 5	04.42 km	Thierry Neuville	03: 12.5	082.7 km / h
	WP22	10:33	Guanajuatito	54.76 km	Mikko Hirvonen	36: 30.7	089.2 km / h
	WP23	12:06	Derramadero	11.51 km	Sébastien Loeb	07: 14.9	087.6 km / h
	WP24	13:18	VW Power Stage	05.75 km	Petter Solberg	03: 11.4	102.7 km / h

Web links

• Official site of the WRC

Individual evidence

1. ↑ motorsport-total.com - website: Rally Mexico: motorsport-total.com/rallye/news.html?y=2012&m=3&p=-1&r=sn_13&snb=/ . Retrieved February 18, 2014 .